Part 2 - Minarets

Another interesting thought on Albanian structures was the number of Minarets that I saw. They were of course, all attached to Mosques. I had, up to this point, never seen a minaret. One of my favorite Dave Matthews Band songs from his early CD (remember two things) Was called minarets, and I had read about them in books about middle eastern culture, but this was my first opportunity to look at them. I found out that the communist while in Albania also went through a phase of blowing up minarets all over the country. One of the oldest ones, still in intact, happens to be in Tirana. they are very interesting structures, and are fascinating to look at, to say the least.

If you have never seen one, they are elegant long towers, stretching high above the surrounding buildings. You can see them from a good distance away, almost like a church steeple, only seemingly more prominent. At the very top, they are capped with an upside down ice cream cone roof. Below this roof, around the perimeter of the minaret, is a balcony. It wraps all the way around, and looks to have high walls, probably reaching to a mans chest, or just below. There is a door way as well that opens out onto the balcony, and on most of the minarets, there looked to be loudspeakers mounted on the small eaves of the towering structure. Sadly, I never got to see one in use, but they were gorgeous none the less.